Site-Wide Activity

MailChimp suggests NOT using gmail as your “reply-to” email, because of security concerns-there's a possibility campaigns won't go through, apparently. I'm using it anyway for now, since for the time being the only campaigns I'm sending out will be test balloons to myself and my mom. Maybe it's not the big deal the flashing lights and whistles…[Read more]

@amy-wang yay, glad it was helpful! I hate to brag, but I'm pretty good at being lazy so I'm always looking for shortcuts 🙂 I'm following this thread so if you have any sewing issues I'll see your posts here in my inbox and try to help!

Thank you, @karen-whooley and @jill-wolcott!

thanks @terri! Your recommendations are so clear and helpful. I didn't use a blind hem stitch with the machine but I'll try a test area with it.

And I especially love the idea of sewing two sides to reduce the amount of sewing! thanks again!

I'll preface this with the fact that I have no crochet experience and rarely sew apparel but I do sew a bit and read apparel and sewing blogs a bit so hopefully my sewing experience can help you some. I'm having a head time seeing the stitch detail in the photos but if you're turning the edge of the lining under, be sure to press (and starch) the…[Read more]

What’s going well?
The switch from self-hosted WooCommerce to Shopify went REALLY well and I had no idea that shipping is built into Shopify which means that when I cancel my Stamps.com subscription my monthly costs are increasing less than expected (wahoo!) No major issues and my site is so much faster and less stressful for me.

What are you w…[Read more]

Such a great list!

I get on an information overload when I listen to too many biz podcasts that are just tips for your business, I really like listening the story behind the business, lots of wonderful nuggets of wisdom in those reflective stories. She Makes Magic http://shemakesmagic.com/the-podcast-series/ it's a bit of a cross over about the…[Read more]

@jennie-moraitis what a thoughtful thing for you to offer this up for us and what an interesting thing to post a series on, I'm sure it will be a smash hit with your other great content! I would love to participate as well – I just submitted my survey, I feel like I got a little cheesy but creativity is so important to me that I get a little nerdy…[Read more]

you can forward your domain to your bigcartel shop or your blogspot blog or wordpress.com (the “free/hosted kind” [there's also wordpress.org which is free but you need a webserver then]) or really any place on the web, even a facebook page.

please see this godaddy help page.

I've written about some of the steps to think about for a website.

Barbara, I don't know much about where you are in your business, so I can't really speak to the timing. What is your goal with the domain name? I don't know about Big Cartel but if you have a myshop.bigcartel.com domain name, you can use the domain name you have through Godaddy as a “custom domain” so people can get straight to your shop through…[Read more]

Thanks @karen-whooley that's very helpful!

I started out as “Spencer Hill Spinning & Dyeing,” since that's what I planned to offer (dyed stuff and hand-spun and BOY OH BOY ALL KINDS OF OTHER STUFF AND WEAVING AND WOWIE and then I got a grip 😉 ). But people kept shortening it to “Spencer Hill.” So I went with that for a little, with the tagline “natural fibers+natural dyes,” except people…[Read more]

Whatcha workin on?

Designing knit and/or crochet swimsuits to launch by June.
Fixing the popup opt in form on my website.
Map making for Q2
blog post and newsletterI send out twice a month, and I need to send one this week. Even better if I send it today.

What’s going well?

Experimenting with swimsuit designs is super fun.
I started m…[Read more]

@tara @jessica yes I did! It worked really well. It was sort of a commitment between me and the kids that we would do those 10 things over the summer. It let them know what to expect over the summer, gave me a plan of attack, and it helped me feel like we had actually accomplished something (because I tend to focus on day to day stuff and feel…[Read more]

@jennie-moraitis – I used create space last time and they did a good job, but this time I am going to Ingram spark. Price is less for what I am doing, and I have been impressed with the printing from other starship captains who have used them. Much better printing!

Thank you so much for your insight, @karen-whooley. Since my book is essentially a workbook, I will price the pdf lower because customers will have to print it on their own (if they want to use the worksheets). But if I write another book that isn't a workbook, that's great insight on pricing pdf/paperback the same. I was actually wondering how…[Read more]

I'll put it in my newsletter tomorrow

My newest pattern was released yesterday! Tiny Peaks

Please get the word out that until Friday it is $1.00 off!

@tanja-osswald they are going in next weeks newsletter!